Brown baffles Oblong

Jordan Brown fired a four-hit shutout on Tuesday in Noble-Clay City's 6-0 win over the Oblong Panthers at West Richland High School.

By Justin Hatten

Jordan Brown fired a four-hit shutout on Tuesday in Noble-Clay City's 6-0 win over the Oblong Panthers at West Richland High School.

The senior right-hander fanned five batters and only walked two while throwing 64 of his 94 pitches for strikes. Brown also belted three hits and scored twice for the Wildcats (3-5).

"Jordan worked ahead in the count (19 first-pitch strikes) and was able to spot his slider and his curve," Noble-Clay City head coach Terry Puckett said. "He worked quickly and kept their hitters off-balance and he made some nice plays on the mound fielding his position."

The Wildcats were victorious despite stranding 12 runners. Austin Manuel mashed a two-run single while Collin Klingler and Ben Baker drew bases-loaded walks, two of 11 free passes issued by Oblong. Klingler got plunked by a pitch with the sacks full as well.

Noble-Clay City took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third, pushed across two more runs in the fourth and capped the scoring with a three-run sixth. Matt Dasch laced an RBI single to join Manuel, Klingler and Baker as run producers for the Wildcats.

Kyler Fear had two hits for the Panthers (0-6) and Wes Jones suffered the loss.